1. Key Points of Weaning Beef Calves
In general, breast milk benefits for 3 to 6 months cattle and then wean and fatten. To raise cattle efficiently, young cattle highland can begin to eat a small amount of water and grass after 3～4 weeks, and their forestomach grows rapidly. When calves are about 2 months old, they have gradually adapted to the forage. At this time, they can be weaned, to shorten the lactation cycle of cows and prepare for the next birth, which reduces the cattle feed prices and increases the benefit of calf breeding. Early feeding can also accelerate the development of the rumen and improve the survival rate of calves.
When cattle ruminate, the cattle rancher can start feeding them with fresh grass, high-quality hay, or soft weeds. The amount of feed increases with the growth of the month. Then mixing with roughage and concentrate can increase the reproduction of ciliates in the rumen, make the digestive and absorptive functions of the stomach enhanced, and lay a good foundation for later growth and large size.
2. Points for Fattening Beef Cattle
Choose good bread. Hybrid varieties have remarkable characteristics of fast growth, strong adaptability, and good meat quality. At the same time, short-term fattening can also be carried out for medium-fat and healthy local steers, which will have a good effect.
Graze. In the early stage of fattening, grazing can be used for 1～2 months, while in the later stage, dry lot feeding should be laid stress on. Grazing should pay attention to the season, preferably in the spring with fresh grass, or in the cool autumn. Too cold and too hot are not suitable for grazing.
Feeding. During the fattening period, ammoniated grass is used as the main feed, which can enhance the palatability to a certain extent, improve the nutrient conversion rate and the beef eating quality and attraction of cattle, and reduce production costs. In addition to feeding ammoniated grass for Charolais cattle, the mixture should be supplemented according to the actual situation of cattle. Maize is the main ingredient of the mixture. It can be fed with colza cake or cottonseed cake and some flavoring starch and salt twice a day at 1% of the cattle's body weight.
Additives. Rumen buffers can be added to feed to improve the digestion and absorption of nutrients in cattle. It can also increase beef yield and feed conversion ratio by the technology of embedding weighting agents.
3. Key Points for Selection of Beef Cattle Forage
Hygiene. The cattle company should ensure that the feeding of forage is hygienic, such as corn straw can be silage preservation, and the quality and nutrition will not change. No moldy or contaminated forage should be fed.
Nutrition. Forage for beef cattle is concentrate and roughage, and different forage is matched according to different months of age. The nutrients contained in concentrate and roughage must meet the nutritional needs of beef cattle growth, to increase the fattening effect of cattle. The added forage must contain calcium, phosphorus, protein, trace elements and so on. If the ingredient is insufficient, it needs to be added separately.
Palatability. Feeding fresh forage should be selected according to the palatability of cattle. Only the palatable forage can increase the appetite of cattle and promote the nutrient absorption of beef cattle. To choose soft and digestible forage, and avoid feeding hard straw that easy to cause harm to cattle.